Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Ann Mellick · Feb 14, 2022 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Sunny, calm and quite warm. Felt very spring-like.

Snowpack

Paths have lost significant volume over the past 6 weeks of dry weather. While we have had some mild weather and plenty of sun, it is still winter and snow surfaces remain cold and fragile on all but southerly aspects. The main problem with future load will be the new/old interface. A snow profile in the Ledges showed that water has made its way through the snowpack (percolation tubes to the ground). However, faceted grains prevail in the lower half of the snowpack, capped by a thick melt freeze crust on top. Paths with a northerly twist remain cold and are predominantly faceted throughout (Silver Ledge Mine).

Avalanche

I was able to get eyes on the AS in Riley Boy from 2/13/22. Pretty small and shallow wind slab. Did not make it past treeline (stopped on upper bench), but a slab avalanche nonetheless. See pic.